Increasingly impatient state utility regulators want Congress to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s clean water rule, which significantly expands the agency’s jurisdiction and would delay power plant construction and other energy development.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, representing all 50 states’ energy regulators, sent a letter to congressional Republican and Democratic leaders urging them to take all available action to upend the EPA’s authority under the Waters of the U.S. rule, or WOTUS.
“The proposed revision of the existing definition of WOTUS under the Clean Water Act is overly broad,” said NARUC President Robert Powelson and Mary-Anna Holden, chairwoman of the group’s water committee. “It clearly expands federal jurisdiction and will negatively impact power generators and utilities regulated by NARUC member state commissions.”
Killing the water rule had been a top priority of Republicans last year and President Trump vowed to repeal it as one of his campaign promises.
The letter pointed out that the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals halted the EPA water rule pending review by the Supreme Court. But that isn’t satisfactory for Powelson’s group, which requires more certainty.
“Review by the Supreme Court prolongs uncertainty about the application of the rule,” the letter said. “NARUC respectfully encourages Congress to apply the Congressional Review Act, or other tools at its disposal, to provide clarity by ensuring that this rule is not implemented.” The House and Senate are conducting a joint effort to repeal regulations under the review law that gives Congress the ability to pass resolutions of disapproval that allow Congress to repeal agency rules with a simple majority vote.
The Republican repeal effort is focused on last-minute regulations that went into effect in the waning days of the Obama administration. It is not clear if the strategy can be used to repeal the water rule, though, since it was enacted in 2015. In the meantime, Trump has said he would take actions to stop the regulation.
The letter was sent as the nation’s regulators assemble in Washington for their annual winter meeting. It is the first NARUC meeting since President Trump was elected.
The group’s board approved a resolution in July to make lobbying against the water rule an official part of its agenda in Washington.
